The Power Of Coffee
by Meianime
Summary: It's the summer after Rory graduates from college. But her work is far from done.She now has two choose what's more important:Love or London. RoryJess LorelaiLuke UPDATE::Sorry for the nonupdating guys. I'll try my best to update as much as possible duri
1. One Cup of Your Strongest Coffee Please

The Power of Coffee 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, and neither do you, I don't own, so you don't sue (**A/N**: I really don't own ANYTHING, including this disclaimer. It belongs to M0rbidity...check out her stories!) Thanks to her and Will and Grace for the idea of the 'tush'. So...read away!

Author: Mei Anime 

**Summary:** It's the summer after Rory graduates from college and it's overflowing with stress, confusion, and love. Both Gilmore's have to make decisions that may change their lives. And all they have to help them get through this is each other...and coffee. (A/N: Rory and Jess have been friends since 7**th** grade and never dated)

Chapter One: One Cup Of the Strongest Coffee You Have, Please 

"I must sit," Rory whined as she stumbled on the sidewalk leaning on her mother for support. "If I don't find somewhere to sit soon, I may just fall down on the sidewalk right here."

They had been shoe shopping for nearly six hours, and Lorelai had dragged poor Rory along.

"Well, I've been thinking of a way to get rid of you anyhow. Ever since school has ended, you've seem to be around all the time," Lorelai replied jokingly to her daughter's sarcasm.

"Then I'll find a mom who loves me enough not to take me to shopping for hours!" Rory answered back sarcastically, not letting Lorelai win their 'competition' of comebacks, "and she'll also make better coffee!" the twenty-two year old added.

"How dare you insult my ability to make coffee!" Lorelai stated with a gasp for dramatic affect. "And anyways, _I _have Luke's." Lorelai rambled on as she opened the door to the diner she had been talking about.

"Did I hear my name?" Luke questioned to the two Gilmores, while wiping down the tables.

"We were just talking about how adorable you look when you're pouring coffee," Lorelai said dripping with sarcasm, while batting her eyes at Luke playfully.

"Ok," Luke responded, ignoring what Lorelai said, "what can I get you?"

Rory jumped in before her mom could speak. "I need one cup of your strongest coffee, please!"

"Why so much caffeine today?" Luke pondered, scribbling Rory's request down on the pad of paper he always carried around to take orders.

" My feet need it," she replied back vaguely and sat down at the nearest table. A confused Luke had learned from past experiences not to ask to many questions, so he walked away to fill her order.

He came back with two cups of coffee and handed one to Rory. "How did you know?" Lorelai asked Luke sweetly, eyeing the other cup of coffee.

"I didn't say it was for you," Luke replied in his usual gruff way, which he had to do to keep his manly reputation. Before Luke could walk away to give the other coffee to Kirk who was waiting impatiently with his girlfriend, Lulu, Lorelai grabbed the drink out of his hand. Luke was about to open his mouth to speak, but them shut it, turned around to pour Kirk another cup of caffeine **(A/N: Lack of a better substitute for coffee)** and muttered, "Never get between a Gilmore and their coffee."

**[Back at the Gilmore house]**

"The couch has never felt more comfortable in my life!" Rory exaggerated as she sulked into the cushions and flipped on the TV. They had just gotten home after they ate dinner at Luke's, which consisted of 3 cups of coffee, each, some ham and egg sandwiches, and a heap of fries.

"I'm going to run upstairs and admire my beautiful shoes. You want to come?" Lorelai was half way up the stairs already by the time Rory responded.

"I've seen enough shoes for a day, thank you very much, "Rory replied as expected. She laid back on the couch and surfed through the channels until she found an re-run of _I Love Lucy_ on. Just as Ricky came home and shouted, 'Honey, I'm home' **(A/N: Ricky is Lucy's wife and that's his famous line, I think)**, the doorbell, at her own house, interrupted. Rory sighed as she went to answer the door. When she opened it, she saw a familiar face, Kirk.

He was dressed unusually though, with a UPS like costume that showed his painfully skinny legs a little more than Rory wanted to see. "Hi Kirk. What's the costume for? Is it Halloween already?"

"I'm here to sell you Kirk's Subway Tush, the most comfy way to sit in on subway and offers enough padding and support for any tush," Kirk stated in a very business like manner, which was very funny to Rory when she considered what he was saying.

Rory, being the nice girl that she is, replied politely, "Thank you, Kirk, but I don't ride the subway much."

"Just buy one," Kirk begged.

"Sorry," Rory said while shutting the door on him. She walked back to the couch and plopped herself down and let out a sigh of satisfaction. Just as she settled down, the doorbell, again, rang. Rory, of course, thought it was Kirk, so as she opened the door she started to say, " Please, told you I don't need your tush, so just...."

Before she had finished what she was saying she had opened the door all the way, and realized that it wasn't Kirk standing at the door. It was Jess.

"Jess...what are you...doing here?" Rory stuttered, red-faced from embarrassment that she had actually said the word 'tush' to Jess.

"My tush isn't good enough for you, huh?" Jess played along.

"No...your..."tush" is fine," Rory stated slowly, clearly still embarrassed, "It's Kirk he..."

"Oh so you think Kirk's tush isn't good enough," Jess interrupted.

"In a way...yes," Rory answered

"Spare me the details of Kirk's tush. I've only got five minutes and I'd rather be talking about another topic," Jess concluded.

Rory understood completely, "So what's up?"

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that my mom wanted me to visit with her and that man she calls her husband, for a week," Jess stated.

After he finished talking, there was an awkward silence between the two while Rory let what he said soak in. Surprisingly, it made her sad that he was leaving.

"Okay, call me when you get back," Rory said unsurely. She couldn't find the right words to say.

"I have to go now. My mom's waiting," Jess said as a horn honked outside. Rory nodded in agreement and then walked him to the door.

There was another awkward silence. Jess leaned in as if to give her a hug or a kiss, but a scream from Lorelai's room interrupted.

"I'd better go check on my mom." Rory said, "She's admiring herself and her shoes...very dangerous. So I'll see you in a week?"

Jess laughed at Rory's description of her mom, "Yep, I'll see you then. You should hurry up," he said pointing upstairs. With that he walked out of the house and closed the door behind him.

"Hon, we have got a problem!" Lorelai shouted again at the top of her lungs.

Rory let out a groan as she headed up the stairs to see what her mom was up to. When she opened the door to her mother's room, she found her mom with a shoe, a pump to be exact, in her hair.

"Oh good, you're here." Lorelai greeted Rory, "See, I was admiring this shoe and doing my 'walk' when suddenly the heel broke. I tried to fix it with Tacky Glue and that's how I ended up like this."

Rory shook her head and let out a little laugh as she walked out and shut the door, leaving her mother rambling about the shoe. "She's had too much coffee and has too many shoes," Rory thought to herself with a smile on her face, "Sometimes, I think she's impossible."

She turned and walked downstairs. Another episode of I Love Lucy had come on. Rory dropped herself on the couch yet again. She fell asleep after watching 2 more hours, only to wake up to even more surprises.

**(A/N: I know it's not a long chapter, but it was just kind of setting the scene. There'll be more to come, once I figure out what I want to happen. If you have any advice or comments please review!)**


	2. Simply Lorelai

The Power of Coffee

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, and neither do you, I don't own, so you don't sue (A/N: I really don't own ANYTHING, including this disclaimer. It belongs to M0rbidity…check out her stories!

And if you like Harry Potter please read M0rbidity's collaboration with Phaea at this pen name: Allegoria So…read to your little heart's content!

Author: Mei Anime 

**Summary:** It's the summer after Rory graduates from college. But her work is far from done. She now has two choose what's more important: Love or London.

THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWEES!

**damson rhee: **_Thanks so much, my first reviewer!_

**smile1:** _I'm glad you enjoyed it!_

**M0rbidity: **_Ha! Maybe Jess should try selling a subway tush!_

**Poodernite: **_Thanks for the advice! I will take it into consideration. By the way I loved 'Just Friends'!_

Chapter Two: Simply Lorelai 

"_HONK_"! Rory woke up to find one of those party favors that rolls out hit her on the forehead. "Ouch," Rory said, sitting up and rubbing the spot where the blower had hit, "Thanks for the wake up call."

"My pleasure," Lorelai said as she grabbed Rory's hand and hauled her off the couch and into the kitchen.

Rory looked around and saw no party, but was too lazy and sleepy to ask anything. She just pulled out a chair and sat down, slumping herself on the table.

Lorelai pulled Rory's head up and poured coffee down her throat, which she gladly drank. Minutes later, after several more cups of coffee Rory was wide-awake and finally asked, "So what's the party for?"

"Huh? Oh, that," her mom answered, realizing what she was talking about. "Well _I've_ decided not to tell you," she finished with her usual smirk that she had when she there was something big going on.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment, I tell you!" Rory said sardonically as she left the kitchen to change since she had fallen asleep in her clothes from the day before.

When she came out of her room, she was dressed in a light blue short-sleeved shirt and jeans that showed her petite figure.

"I'm going to go get ready and then we're going to head out," Lorelai told Rory.

"I'm _not_ going shopping for your shoes again!" Rory defended herself. She didn't want to go through that again.

"Okay," her mom simply said, and with that left the kitchen.

She came down a few minutes later with fresh make-up and her new pair of shoes that still had the heel in place.

"Let's go," Lorelai grabbed Rory and her keys, and walked out the door.

**Westfarms Mall in West Hartford**

Minutes later, they arrived at Westfarms Mall in West Hartford. "_NO!_ What did I say about not buying any more shoes for you?" Rory whined more than asked.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes and plastered that smirk on her face again, "Exactly!"

Rory helplessly got out of the car. They walked through the crowded halls of the mall until they stopped at a clothing store.

And once again Rory had no choice but to follow her mom.

When they finally came out of the store, Lorelai was carrying four shopping bags full of suits, skirts, and blouses for Rory, plus an occasional item of clothing for herself.

Rory grew suspicious, not in a bad way, but still suspicious of Lorelai as she bought more and more clothes for her daughter. Before she could question her mom, she felt her mom take her arm and took her somewhere else in the mall.

That place turned out to be the food court. Rory could smell the aroma of fries as soon as they went down the escalator.

After deciding that they wanted to have pizza, Rory and Lorelai sat down at a small table to eat.

With a big chunk of pizza in her mouth, Rory finally got the chance to ask her mom about the shopping spree.

"So what are all the clothes for?" she asked except it sounded like, " Fo whaf are all fee clofes fa?" because her mouth was full.

Lorelai looked at her with a puzzled face.

When Rory swallowed her food she repeated the question. But all her mom could do was smile that deceiving smile.

Rory knew her mom was not going to give in, so she let the question go. Instead she started a conversation about how the ozone layer was slowly disappearing.

Minutes later, they finished their lunch and headed back to the upper level of the mall.

This time Rory had some food in her so she was actually willing to shop.

Four more suits and a skirt later, the mother and daughter team found themselves looking at party accessories.

"How do I look?" Lorelai asked with her nose stuck up in the air and a accent to complete the snobby package. She had a feather boa wrapped around her, a plastic crown on her head, white gloves, and sunglasses pushed up on her head.

Rory looked at her mom for a second, "All you need is a show and a stage, and we could put you in Vegas."

Soon they were out of the store, once they had decided between pink or white gloves. They had bought so many feather boas that they really _could _have started a show in Vegas.

Rory was, of course not, sure what they were for, but she thought maybe her mom bought them because she was just simply _well…Lorelai_.

Their last stop in the mall was sort of like a Purses R' Us kind of store. In other words, purses galore, a heaven to purse lovers.

As soon as they stepped foot in to the store, Lorelai spotted a purse that she loved. She walked over to it immediately and picked it up, "My precious," she said in a voice that mimicked Gollum from the Lord of the Rings.

Rory laughed at her mom's poor imitation, and headed off to look around.

When she met up with her Lorelai at the register, her mom had already made a purchase.

"You ready to go?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"Yea, I'm ready."

Lorelai took her bags and walked out with Rory. But before they were out of the mall they bumped into, the one, the only, Emily Gilmore.

"Stay here, I'm going to go talk to her," Lorelai instructed Rory.

Rory stared back in shock and disbelief, "_You're_ going to go talk to her!"

"You have no right to mock me!" Lorelai replied jokingly to her daughters astonish. She shrugged her shoulders and walked to over to her mother, who also looked shocked.

"You're actually willing to talk to me," Emily said when her daughter who usually tried to escape her, walked over on her own will, "I can't believe it!"

"That makes two. But if you _ever_ bring this up, you know, that I actually talked to you without someone forcing me to, then I will deny it until the day the Earth explodes." Lorelai rambled.

"Well, tell me what you have to. I'm very busy, and I don't have much time," Emily said.

"Seeing that you're so busy, mom, you probably won't want to attend, but….

From where Rory was standing she could see a lot of crazy hand gestures flying all over the place.

Finally, her mom walked over with a frustrated look, the kind she always had when she was done talking to Emily Gilmore.

Rory decided it was best not to bring up the subject.

When they got out of the mall, Lorelai and Rory got into the Jeep and were on their way back to Stars Hollow.

But before they arrived Lorelai told Rory, "I have to stop at the Dragonfly Inn real quick on the way home and see if the horses were fed, and if Sookie has Wednesday's menu."

They climbed out of the car. Lorelai directly went into the inn.

Rory stayed outside, and walked over to the stables.

"Hi, Desdemona and Cletus," Rory said, petting the horses' noses. She picked up some hay from their feeding bin, and fed the horses right out of her hand.

By the time Lorelai came walking out the door, Rory had already brushed the horses' hair, and refilled their water.

"You didn't have to do that, hun." Lorelai said to Rory when she told her she fed and brushed the horses.

"I know, but I wanted to."

"Well then, if you enjoy farm work so much, I'll have you milking the cows and bathing the pigs by tomorrow," her mom responded with sarcasm.

"Gladly," Rory answered back with as much of a straight face as possible.

The ride home was silent. Lorelai and Rory both had different feelings going through their minds.

Rory felt anxious, still not knowing what her mother had planned or what the big surprise was.

Her mom was anxious, but in a different way. She was half of the 'I hope nothing goes wrong at my dentist's appointment' anxious and half the 'I can't wait to go on my date' anxious. But her anxiety had nothing whatsoever to do with the dentist or a date. They were the least of her problems.

"_Although come to think of it, I might need a cleaning for my teeth_," Lorelai considered to herself, off track, just for a second, but then immediately went back to thinking about being anxious.

When they arrived at their house Lorelai nervously stated, "Well here we are," not moving from her seat in the car.

"Yep, that's our house. You know, we _can go in it_ if you want," Rory replied back to her mother's nervousness.

They both got out of the Jeep, and walked up the steps. Lorelai pulled the keys out of her purse and opened the door slowly.

Rory could see her hand was shaking, but Rory could also see she had a smile on her face.

They stepped inside the house, Lorelai, going in first.

"_If only she knew what she was going into…_" Lorelai thought to herself, with the widest grin on her face, but her head was facing the floor so Rory couldn't see.

"_If only she knew_…"

_**(A/N: Yay! My second chapter! I have officially broken the world record for using the word anxiety/anxious in a sentence. Comments, advice, FILL ME IN! And please read the story at the link in my Disclaimer! It's filled with Oompa Loompas and a very good story!)**_

**_(2nd A/N: By the way, I won't be able to update as often because of school. But look for my updates during holidays or every so often! And I definitely will be back Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and of course, next summer!) _**


	3. The Town in My Living Room

The Power of Coffee 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, and neither do you, I don't own, so you don't sue (A/N: I really don't own ANYTHING, including this disclaimer. It belongs to M0rbidity…check out her stories!)

And if you like Harry Potter please read M0rbidity's collaboration with Phaea at this penname: Allegoria So…read to your little heart's content!

Author: Mei Anime 

**Summary:** It's the summer after Rory graduates from college. But her work is far from done. She now has two choose what's more important: Love or London.

THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWEES!

**GQSecondAct:** _Thanks for the tip! Somebody else told me that, too, so I've been trying to put less._

**JDL:**_ Good advice. I don't mind the nitpicking at all. Keep the comments coming, please! _

**smile1:** _I'll do my best to keep writing good chapters! _

**damson rhee:** _I'll update as fast as my ten little fingers can type:D_

Chapter Three:

The house was pitch black when Rory entered. Out of the darkness, she suddenly heard Lorelai slam the door, rather hard. Nothing happened.

"What was that for…,"Rory started to ask her mom, but was cut off by the sound of her mom opening and banging the door shut yet again.

"Just making sure it was shut," Lorelai said, accompanied with a nervous giggle.

Rory looked at her mom crazily, even though she couldn't see her. Rory reached for the light switch, but before she could turn it on she heard…

_"**SURPRISE!**"_ The entire room lit up and the whole town popped out from the Gilmore's living room.

Rory jumped back and let out a small scream out of shock. "Is this for…me?" Rory asked, obviously still stunned.

Her mom walked up from behind her, and put her arm around her shoulder. This time Rory could see her mother's face that was beaming with pride. "Yep, it's all yours," Lorelai said as she handed her daughter a large envelope with London as the return address.

"Open it up," her mother said to her.

Rory opened the large packet that evidently had already been opened by her mother. As she read the letter, her eyes grew wider.

Then, she swung her arms around her mother to give her a hug.

"Congrats, Miss London Foreign Correspondent! They want you to start at the end of August.

So you should start looking for an apartment because you'll have to move there," Lorelai told Rory.

Rory went around and hugged everyone in the room, including Sookie. She later learned that her mother wasn't asking Sookie about the menu, but inviting her to the party. She had run out of the back door of the inn, and ran about five traffic lights to get to their house before Rory and Lorelai did. And the run-in with Emily at the mall was to invite her to the party, but she insisted on having a proper dinner party.

"All this excitement has made me hungry. Anybody else?" Lorelai asked as the whole room nodded in agreement. "Well then, let's eat. Luke?" Lorelai indicated for him to get the food.

"Oh right," Luke said, heading off to the kitchen. He came back with plenty of food and definitely coffee, fresh from "Luke's", for everybody.

The guests immediately went for the food and drinks.

Babette walked up to Rory and said," You're such a smarty. Hey, and I hear the boys in London are hot as chicken pot pie." Miss Patty, who was standing nearby, gave a sign of agreement.

"Thanks for the tip, Babette. I'll make a mental note to pack oven mitts," Rory said with a smile as she moved on to talk to the next guest.

When Rory had finished speaking to some people, she finally got the chance to escape to her room.

She picked up the phone, but all she could do was stare at the receiver. She wanted to call someone, but whom?

"_Jess_," Rory thought in her head. Then she remembered that she didn't have Liz's number, so she walked back to the living room where she found Luke on the couch, talking to Lorelai.

"Do you have Liz's number? I want to tell Jess about the job offer," Rory asked Luke.

"Yeah, here. By the way, congratulations," Luke said, reaching in his pocket for the number. He handed Rory a piece of paper with the number on it. Rory saw that he had shaved and styled his hair with gel. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Luke doesn't get tidied up very often.

"Thanks," she said as she headed back to her room.

Sitting on her bed, she punched the number into the phone. It rang twice before there was a voice at the other end.

"Hello?"

Rory could tell it was T.J.'s voice. "Hi T.J. It's Rory. "

"You're Jess's friend right? You want to talk to him?" T.J. rambled.

"Yeah, thanks." Rory said as she twirled the phone cord around her finger.

A few seconds later, Jess's voice came on the line. "Hey."

"Hey, how's it going at Liz's?" Rory questioned back to start conversation.

"Fine," Jess replied plainly, "except that T.J. keeps talking about how much he loves the tights her wore at their wedding, or as he calls them, 'air pants'."

Rory laughed at the tight joke. "Well, I have something to tell you."

"Should I be sitting down for this?" Jess asked.

"No, it's nothing like that…"

"Okay, so what is it?" Jess asked, growing impatient.

"Well," Rory began slowly, "you know how I applied for a few jobs at the end of the school year? One of them was a foreign correspondent job in London. And I got it!"

"That's great," Jess replied. He could tell over the phone that she was so happy, that it made a week of 'air pants' disappear. "Wait, so does that mean you'll be moving to London?" he added realizing that you can't exactly ride your bike, or even a car, to London. He was disappointed that she would have to move, but she sounded so happy that he didn't want to ruin it for her.

"I'm pretty sure I will, but I'll be home during all the holidays, and the summer." Rory said, as there was a knock on her door. Her mother peeked in and motioned for her daughter to hang up the phone so they could talk. "Oh, sorry I have to go. My mom needs me. But call me when you get back. Bye." Rory finished off.

"I will, and congrats again. See you next week." Jess said and then hung up.

Rory put the phone back on her nightstand and turned her focus to her mom.

"Who was that?"

"Jess. I called him at Liz's to tell him the news."

"Oh. Do ya mind coming back to the party now? The whole town's waiting for you to cut the cake. And then presents."

"Just the town? I thought you would at least have brought all of the state, but I get it, I'm not worthy of the state," Rory joked, still smiling.

"Well…I figured that I should save the state for when you become the President."

"Yeah…that works, too," Rory laughed as she headed back to the living room with her mom.

**After the party**

"You know, I really needed that," Rory said, while cleaning up wrapping paper from the presents.

"Hm?" Lorelai asked.

"The party, the job offer, I needed it," Rory restated.

"Glad you liked it."

"How long have you known about the job offer?"

"I just got the letter in the mail three days ago. But the thing is…we only have two months to do to everything before you go to London. We have to get you an apartment, furniture, finding a way to send you food from Luke's every week…" Lorelai rambled on.

"Mom, relax.

"Will do," Lorelai said, sinking in to the couch, followed by Rory.

"Speaking of Luke…"Rory began.

"Uh-oh, this sounds potentially dangerous."

"Well after I leave for London, you're going to have him all to yourself. You guys have been chasing each other around for a really long time, and everyone in town knows that you two are perfect for each other, except…you and Luke. So, I'm just saying, take a chance. Promise?" Rory smiled when she finished her sentence. She'd been wanting to talk to her mom about this for a while now. This seemed like the perfect chance.

"I hate it when you 're right," Lorelai pouted, but then broke into a grin.

"Promise?" Rory asked.

"Promise."

"Okay, good."

"Now get to sleep. Your grandmother insisted on having a dinner party at her house tomorrow because "we cannot properly celebrate an important event such as this without proper planning," Lorelai said, mocking her mother, "So your going to need all the energy you have when she introduces you to all of her tea party friends."

"Yeah, I know, I know."

Next morning

"There's my little foreign correspondent," Lorelai said as Rory walked out of her room.

"Mornin'. Is the coffee done yet?"

"Spoken like a true Gilmore. I raised you well."

"I can drink to that." Rory said pouring herself a cup of coffee."

"Okay so I was thinking, since grandma wants you to get there at 4, we could go eat at Luke's then you can come to the Dragonfly with me and check out the new wallpaper I'm getting for the dining area."

"Sounds fine with me."

"But first thing's first. We have to finish this coffee."

**A/N: I know, it's a short chapter…but I don't really know where I'm headed with this story. I haven't written it in a while and during that time…well a lot's happened on Gilmore Girls…including Logan. I think it's easier to write about him since they're currently together on GG so…I may have to start another story and end this one…we'll see. But meanwhile…READ AND REVIEW!**


End file.
